Occupation Historian, Jurist Nationality English | Spouse Anna Marie Lilly Name William Lilly | |
Born William Samuel Lilly10 July 1840Dorset, England ( 1840-07-10 ) Books Four English humourist, The Great Enigma, India and its problems, On shibboleths, Ancient religion and mod | ||
William Samuel Lilly (July 10, 1840 – August 29, 1919) was an English barrister and man of letters.
Biography
Lilly was born at Fifehead, Dorset, in 1840. He was educated at Peterhouse, Cambridge, taking his degree of LL.B. in 1862, and his LL.M. in 1870. After some private tuition from Sir Adolphus William Ward, he entered the Indian civil service, becoming in 1869 secretary to the government of Madras. Owing to a breakdown in health, however, he had to return to England, where he devoted himself to a career in literature. With his wide-ranging intellectual interests, Lilly occasionally wrote for some of the major publications of his time, such as The Nineteenth Century, The Contemporary Review, The Fortnightly Review, Popular Science Monthly, and The Dublin Review.
Lilly was a convert to Roman Catholicism, and from 1874 was secretary to the Catholic Union of Great Britain. He was also a Justice of the Peace for Middlesex and London.